The ASDE-X next-generation runway monitoring system is to be installed at 25 US airports as a part of an overall plan to prevent runway incursion accidents, the US Federal Aviation Administration has decided.
In another move to reduce runway incursions, controllers will be ordered to use a reasonable speech rate when communicating with pilots whose primary language is not English, and the use of datalink communications, rather than voice, for issuing taxi clearances to aircraft is to be expanded.
In September, the FAA will pick a contractor for ASDE-X, a lower-cost alternative to the Northrop Grumman Airport Surface Detection Equipment 3 (ASDE-3) ground-surveillance radar system which is installed at 34 major US airports. Northrop Grumman and a Raytheon/Sensis team are competing for the ASDE-X contract. FAA officials believe up to 40 ASDE-X systems will be procured.
An Airport Movement Area Safety System (AMASS) upgrade, meanwhile, will give the ASDE-3 radars an automation enhancement for tracking aircraft and ground vehicles on runways and taxiways.
The first operational AMASS will be commissioned at San Francisco in September. All ASDE-3 radars will be upgraded by September 2002.
Source: Flight International
